The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe, botanically known as Astilbe arendsii and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Heavy Metal’.
The new Astilbe plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Heemskerk, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new uniform and freely flowering Astilbe plants with attractive leaf and flower coloration.
The new Astilbe plant originated from an open-pollination in 2008 in Heemskerk, The Netherlands, of Astilbe arendsii ‘Rhythm and Blues’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,846, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown Astilbe arendsii seedling selection as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Astilbe plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Heemskerk, The Netherlands during the summer of 2010.
Asexual reproduction of the new Astilbe plant by vegetative divisions in a controlled nursery environment in Heemskerk, The Netherlands since December, 2010, has shown that the unique features of this new Astilbe plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.